Ask your question about e-commerce!Make your voice heard at the OECD conference on empowering e-consumers. As of today and throughout the conference, you are invited to submit questions to the panellists. What do you think about e-commerce? Do you feel safe when making purchases online? Have you had problems buying from abroad? What are your questions or ideas on strengthening consumer protection in e-commerce? Ask the experts or share your opinion. More information about the conference is at:www.oecd.org/ict/econsumerconference

NEW PUBLICATIONS

Background Report on Empowering E-Consumers, Nov. 2009

The report serves as background for the OECD Conference on E-consumers. It examines a series of emerging issues including vulnerable consumers such as children, new forms of interactions for example consumer-to-consumer e-commerce or product ratings, consumer participation through new channels such as social networking sites, and access to a variety of digital products including films, videos, and music.

The Impact of the Crisis on ICT and ICT-Related Employment, Oct. 2009

Employment is continuing to drop in the information and communications technology (ICT) goods sector and remaining flat in most ICT services,according to a new OECD report. Employment in ICT manufacturing dropped by around 6-7% year-on-year in most countries in the second quarter of 2009. Even Chinese ICT manufacturing employment has dropped 5% in the second quarter compared to second quarter 2008.

Measuring the Relationship Between ICT and the Environment, Jul. 2009

While the links between ICT and environmental outcomes are becoming clearer, there is no separate statistical field that links the two.This report explores relevant official statisticsand suggests a conceptual framework for a new statistical field 'ICT and the environment'. The report makes recommendations on how to improve statistical collection to better measure the links between ICT and environmental outcomes.

RECENT EVENTS

Participants at the Forum discussed the role of the Internet and broadband in the economic recovery as enabling other sectors -healthcare, education, or smart transportation and electricity grids- to develop. They agreed a multistakeholder approach is needed to address current challenges, in particular the global deployment of the newer version of the Internet protocol (IPv6) and ensuring the Internet remains open to innovation.

This workshop focused on policies and next steps for improving environmental performance, making more effective use of ICTs and the Internet in meeting environmental targets, harnessing the ICT sector’s potential for sustainable growth and employment, and underpinning and speeding green growth.

This workshop focussed on the spread of mobile throughout the developing world based on prepaid services and the budget telecom network model, which exploits long-tail markets. Participants discussed the importance of effective competition, of access to spectrum, of removing bottlenecks in international connectivity, and discussed the merits of rationalising taxation in the ICT sector, including by phasing out universal service levies.

This workshop examined recent trends in international sourcingin view of the crisis. It concluded that despite global turbulence in ICT services markets, prospects for services supply from emerging and developing countries remain bright, provided the right policy framework is in place. The Workshop was opened by Dr Tarek Mohamed Kamel, Minister of Communications and IT, Egypt, and benefited from high-level presentations and debate.

Innovation in ICTs is key to achieving ambitious CO2 emissions reductions. At the UN Climate Change talks in Barcelona - four weeks ahead of COP15 - the OECD, ITU, GeSI and international partners discussed how ICTs can help combat global warming.Key messages